


Hidden Cove

by 13Vivacious13



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Human Pidge, Mer AU, Modern AU, also a bit of shallura because i can, flirtyrobot, i'll update as needed, it starts off cute but gets angsty and adventurey, mer lance, mer plance for mermay, no archive warnings yet but that may change, pidgance, plance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 17:04:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18815230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13Vivacious13/pseuds/13Vivacious13
Summary: One misplaced step, that's all it took to send Pidge tumbling headfirst into a hidden world and head over heels in love.(AKA, when a cute merman rescues you, it's kinda hard to turn him down when he asks you out on a date, right?)(ALSO AKA, I'm rewriting my mer!Plance short story.)





	Hidden Cove

_One misplaced step. One slimy, algae-covered rock that looked safer than it was. One hand clutching a camera and vainly trying to keep it safe instead of keeping her balance._

 

_That's all it took._

 

* * *

  

There's blood in the water. Faint, but there.

 

Probably just a fish, Lance thinks. He doesn't stop his scavenging. Something shiny glints through the sand and he digs at it until he pulls up a crumpled can. He holds it up to the shifting light filtering in through the waves. It's silver and red, with looping human script that he's memorized by now. He already has one in this color. With a sigh, he tosses it away. Every year it seemed the humans are throwing away more and more of the same old junk and less interesting things.

 

Lance flicks his tail in irritation and moves closer to shore, looking behind his shoulder as he does so. He's not allowed to be here, so close to the surface. Allura would skin him alive if she knew, let alone his sister.

 

Allura, so wise for one so young, and protective of their clan as a good matriarch should be, but so unwilling to understand his curiosity.

 

He drifts toward the tide pools. Humans like to go there to catch a glimpse of what life is like under the water (Lance can totally relate) and they're very clumsy. All sorts of things end up in the ocean.

 

The scent of blood grows stronger, distracting and tangy against his tongue. Perhaps a seagull caught a fish unluckily trapped in one of the pools. Sand brushes against his fins and he squints as he skims the slope up to the surface. It's bright up here, so much so he nearly misses the floating strap.

 

It's black and lined with dark grey stitches, floating and swaying with the low tide despite being anchored to the seafloor. Lance scoops the clunky object it's attached to, his excitement growing as he palms the smooth metal corners and runs his fingers over the glass lens. He's seen humans with these before, lots of times. They squint one eye shut and look through something in this box with the other. Then sometimes there's a flash and they pull away, looking satisfied with themselves.

 

He drops the find in his bag and swims towards the tide pools with new verve. Who knows what else he'll find?

 

A dark, bobbing shape catches his attention as Lance nears the shore. A bright plume of red drifts up from it, the source of blood. Lance approaches with caution, one hand gripping the dagger tied around his waist.

 

He blinks in surprise once he's close enough to realize what he's seeing. A human.

 

A girl, maybe around his age. Her hair is cut short and floats around her head in a brown halo. Lance has never been so close to a human before, so he can't tell if the blotchy spots dotting her pale skin are natural or not. The blood is coming from a gash on her forehead, just above her eyebrow.

 

Lance swims closer, watching the slow curve of her arms as she sinks deeper. A few bubbles trickle up to the surface, a jittery and rapid contrast to her still face, turned into blue marble by the sunlight above. She doesn't so much as twitch when he reaches out and pokes her shoulder.

 

The full import of what he's seeing hits him like a crashing wave.

 

Human. Underwater. Not moving.

 

"Ohhhhh no. Oh no oh no o _h no ohnoohnoohnoohno-_ "

 

He hooks both arms under hers and swims for the surface, his litany of distress following them as they breach the surface. It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the early morning light, but he follows the smell of driftwood and drying seaweed to the shore. The girl's body remains limp and pale as he flops them both onto the shore. Her chest isn't moving, and the bloody cut on her forehead looks far worse above water than it did below.

 

"No, no, no _come on_!" Lance shakes her by her shoulders and a bit of water dribbles out of her mouth. He pauses.

 

Humans can't breathe water. He needs to get the water out.

 

A tentative press to her side doesn't do much. Panicking, he turns her onto her stomach and presses her back. This time a sizable amount of water pours out. He tries again. Again. Again.

 

How long was she underwater? Humans can't hold their breath for long.

 

Again. Again. Again-

 

A choking cough followed by a gasp. Cracked and desperate and gurgling. It's the sweetest sound he's heard all day. A seagull squawks at him from a nearby rock, chastising his folly.

 

There are no other humans on the beach, not in this cove anyway. It's small and private, hidden from prying eyes.

 

Still, to linger here...

 

The girl's wretching steadies into heaving breaths. She groans and shifts to her side, wet sand clinging to her eyelashes. Lance takes a moment to brush her hair out of her face, only to be met with a bleary honey brown eye. He flinches and scoots back into the surf. The eye follows him for a moment before closing. Lance lingers, half-enjoying the unexpected warmth from the rising sun and half-watching the steady rise and fall of the human's chest. It isn't until a voice from around a bend in the beach - _"Pidge?"_ \- rings out that he submerges completely.


End file.
